The present invention relates to a vehicle rear structure in which, when a seatback is folded, a rear floor and an upper surface of the seatback provide a flat surface.
A vehicle rear structure in which an upper surface of a seatback folded and a rear floor form a flat surface is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-5-46588. This rear structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 14A and 14B hereof.
A vehicle rear structure 100 shown in FIG. 14A has a seat cushion 108 mounted on a vehicle floor 104, a seatback 109 mounted to the seat cushion 108 in a foldable manner, a spare tire well 103 provided in the vehicle floor 104 behind the seatback 109 for housing a spare tire 106, and a cover member 107 covering the spare tire 106 and an unoccupied space 105 between the spare tire well 103 and the seatback 109.
In the vehicle rear structure 100, if the seat cushion 108 is longitudinally slidably mounted on the vehicle floor 104, for example, a gap will be formed between the rear of the seat cushion 108 and the front edge of the cover member 107. Through the gap, objects loaded on the cover member 107 can fall into the unoccupied space 105.
Then, in some cases, as in a vehicle rear structure 110 shown in FIG. 14B, a bridge plate 118 is rotatably attached to the front edge of a cover member 117 so that the front edge of the bridge plate 118 abuts on the rear of a seatback 109.
In the vehicle rear structure 110 shown in FIG. 14B, when the seatback 109 is folded onto a seat cushion 108 as shown by arrow {circumflex over (1)}, the bridge plate 118 can move along the seatback 109 into a horizontal position as shown by arrow {circumflex over (2)}. However, when the seatback 109 is raised from the seat cushion 108, the front edge of the bridge plate 118 can get stuck on the seatback 109, preventing the seatback 109 from being raised. Therefore desired is a structure which permits a bridge plate 118 rotatably attached to a cover member 117, the front edge of which bridge plate 118 is made to abut on the rear surface of a seatback 109, to smoothly move with the folding and uprising movements of the seatback 109.
According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle rear structure, which comprises: a seatback; a rear floor positioned behind the seatback and designed to be on the same level as an upper surface of the seatback when the seatback is folded forwardly; and a bridge plate rotatably attached to the rear floor to extend onto the upper surface of the folded seatback, the folded seatback having on the upper surface an area for receiving a front edge portion of the bridge plate and having at a rear portion thereof a portion for lifting the front edge portion of the bridge plate in conjunction with uprising movement of the seatback, the bridge plate having on an undersurface thereof a cam with which the lifting portion comes into contact.
In a vehicle rear structure in which, when a seatback is folded, a rear floor and an upper surface of the seatback form a flat surface and a bridge plate is extended between the upper surface of the seatback and the rear floor, it is convenient to move the bridge plate in conjunction with the folding movement and uprising movement of the seatback. The upper surface of the seatback, however, is not necessarily configured to be a flat surface.
Then, the seatback is provided at its rear portion with the portion for lifting the front edge of the bridge plate in conjunction with the uprising movement of the seatback and the bridge plate is provided at its undersurface with the cam to make contact with the portion, so that, to raise the seatback, the front edge portion of the bridge plate is first lifted to prevent the seatback from being stuck by the front edge portion of the bridge plate. This smoothes the folding and uprising movements of the seatback.
Preferably, the rear floor has a recess for housing a spare tire and a lid for closing the recess, and the bridge plate is provided at a front edge of the lid. Cargo can thus be loaded on the lid over the housed spare tire, resulting in an effective use of the rear floor.